Over-concern For Amnesiacs
by Serphosion
Summary: When Lucina realises that Morgan is up to something behind her back, she and Robin decide to find out what's going on... Completely embarrassing Morgan in the process!
1. Chapter 1: A conversation

The sun shined brightly through the thin fabric of the tent. Feeling the warmth on his eyelids, Robin's eyes drifted open. With a quiet yawn, he stretched his arms, making sure not to disturb Lucina, who was still snoring loudly. Robin silently wormed his way out of the bed, draped his Plegian cloak over his smallclothes and creeped through the tent flap into the village that housed them.

"That was the best dream I've had in ages," Robin quietly murmured to himself "hopefully some of the other Shepherds are up too. I don't want them walking in on me when I'm halfway through devouring the entire supply of bacon..." He chuckled softly, walking drearily to the mess tent that was near the center of the town.

Unsurprisingly, Stahl was already there, along with his daughter Kjelle, and they were having an eating contest judging their determined glares at each other and the mountains of empty bowls surrounding them.

"Heffloh Robin! Tafkse a sheat!" Stahl's mouth was too full of food to speak properly.

"Uh... Sure? If that's what you were implying." Robin sat down in the chair nearest to the pile of bacon (or what was left of it). He picked up his plate and started spearing the last of the bacon with it, taking some bread to try and make it seem more "healthy," which wasn't the case at all. As he began eating, a loud burp came from the opposite end of the table; the piles of bowls around Kjelle rumbled as she chucked away her latest bowl of food, and grabbed the next.

"You need to pick up the pace father, you've only eaten a measly sixty-seven bowlfuls!" Kjelle had a triumphant smirk on her face as Stahl struggled to finish his omelette.

"Hurghh... I will n-not falter this easily!" Stahl could barely get the words out before dropping the bowl and the table and leaned back in his chair, sighing in defeat.

"Yesh!" Kjelle hastily finished the last of her meal "Another win sixty-seven bowls to my ninety-three!" She too leaned back in her chair, content with trouncing her father at his own game. While this was going on, Robin was enjoying his bacon sandwich. Ever since Grima had "died" (being a God, not even Naga was sure that he was truly gone from this mortal plane. Herself, along with Robin, had theorized there could be more potential hosts for his power out there in the world), the Shepherds had lived lives of ease. Of course, there were still bandits around, along with occasional buff guy who thought he was going to be the next Walhart (only to run away with damp underwear at the sight of Chrom's army raising their weapons), but apart from that everything was simple. The Shepherds had all settled down in a village bordering Ylisstol that had been their headquarters for a lot of the campaign, and decided to call it home. A lot of them got married, and started to have proper lives away from the battlefield.

Robin was one of those Shepherds.

Even after he and Lucina had gotten properly married and were finally allowed in the same tent, the enigmatic man still couldn't leave his fascination with tactics and the tales of wars gone by, and he loved to put his own strategies to the test against his daughter, Morgan. She was Robin and Lucina's beacon of hope that there was hope for a successful future where Grima was slain. She was also a source of worry for the duo, who realised that in another universe their future selves' child just disappeared one day and never came back. Morgan herself didn't seem to mind as she couldn't remember it all that well, but it was a slight concern that sometimes clawed at Robin whenever she was talking about her fragmented past.

Soon after, more of the Shepherds came in, a lot of them disappointed by the small amounts of food that were left.

"Aw, come on! Where's all the fried bread?"

"I swear, for all that is holy, if anyone touched my stash of sweets..."

"Gods dammit you two! I should have known not to let either of you leave the tent!"

"Good morning, Robin." Lucina placed herself in the chair next to the white-haired tactician. She couldn't help but giggle at the mess that was surrounding him, especially all the crumbs trailing down his cloak.

"I... Uh... I can promise you that I wasn't part of Stahl and Kjelle's crusade to starve us all." Robin hastily sat up and wiped the crumbs from his Grandmaster robes (he insisted on calling them that, but everyone else just referred to it as "cloak" much to his chagrin). The princess let out a small laugh as he tried to save himself, and then got back to what she had on mind.

"Listen, Robin, I've had something on my mind for a while." Lucina's face had quite a sterner scowl on it than before.

"Like what?" Robin ask, his eyebrows arching.

"It concerns Morgan." Upon hearing this, Robin also shared the stern look that adorned Lucina's face.

"Is she alright?"

"Yes, she's fine. But this is more about her love life than anything."

"Oh? I can't imagine anyone who could put up with her... _vast_ levels on enthusiasm..."

"You'd be surprised," Lucina's gaze was a tad softer than it was before "there are a few people who she talks to a lot more often, and I'm sure that's she's dating someone behind our backs..."

"Well now I know how Chrom felt," Robin felt the corners of his mouth turn into the tiniest of smiles "We'd better get to the bottom of this. As her kind-of-but-not-really-due-to-time-travel father, I need to make sure that she's not going out with someone like Inigo..."

"There's nothing wrong with Inigo!"

"Just because you had the slightest of crushes on him in the past doesn't mean that he would be a suitable person for our daughter, have you seen the way he handles women? I'm genuinely shocked that _anyone_ would think he was a charming man!" Robin's smirk had grown even larger as he recalled the countless times that Inigo got slapped for "trying to act level-headed."

"Humph," Lucina mock-pouted "You should know better than to insult a member of royalties' friends."

"Have I ever mentioned you're really cute when you try to fake being angry with me?" his comment caused Lucina to blush and quickly change the subject.

"Anyway, we're straying too far from the original topic. We need to make sure that Morgan is safe, and I trust in you to help me get to the bottom of this!" Lucina put a hand on the table, her voice becoming more and more determined.

"Of course, why wouldn't I?" Robin grinned, getting up from his chair. "In fact, I already have a plan!"


	2. Chapter 2: The plan brews

Morgan was happily skipping along, humming to herself. She was nearly always cheery, and the only time she was ever incredibly upset was when Robin decided to do his disappearing act for two years; apart from that she had enough energy to incinerate an entire village!... Which she did once. Her terrifying blood mixture meant she only had to vaguely say something along the lines of "Not only am I the invincible tactician's daughter, but I'm also half-demonic dragon God and a future wielder of the Falchion" and she would have all of Ylisse under her control. Of course, she would _never_ dream of doing that, but since nobody can really tell exactly what's on her mind, Lucina and Robin subtly keep an eye on her. The last thing they wanted was Morgan becoming the next antithesis of peace in the history books.

The concern they had was only doubled when the eventually realised that ANOTHER Morgan would show up at some point. What's worse than having a half-demon God trying to get her way? TWO half-demon Gods trying to get their way.

But the young tactician couldn't care less about any of that today. She had just spent the morning discussing with Owain, Nah and Cynthia ways to get back at the S&B Society for stealing their food. She loved talking to the other future children, as they all had more interesting personalities than her father's friends (she still enjoyed talking to them, but they didn't like to do all the fun and crazy stuff most of the future children did), and they always kept her occupied.

"...Then we use the hallucination powder to make them think that the tent is one fire, that way we can cover up the fact we're going to douse them with several gallons of water! Now, to recite the plan for the forty-sixth time... Invite them to our gathering tent for some food, spike their food with hallucination powder..." Morgan spoke out loud, making sure that she could remember the plan correctly. As a tactician-in-training, she couldn't afford to make a single slip-up, lest Robin be ashamed of her.

On her way through the village to buy some fresh food for the plan, she bumped into a tall, dark-haired figure that was tirelessly dragging two large sacks of something towards the animal paddocks.

"Whup, sorry Gerome. Didn't see you there!" Morgan kept up her cheeriness, Gerome was one of the "If I think you're going to do something stupid I'm going to intercept it" people, so she had to keep his suspicions low.

"Greetings, Morgan. I see you're just as optimistic as ever." ever since the war was over Gerome had been considerably more lax. He was still stoic at times, and he refused to take off his mask, but he was a lot more active and got a lot more sleep (as did many more Shepherds).

"I see you've got some food for Minerva, do you need any help carrying it? I'm sure with a simple use of my Elwind tome I cou-"

"I appreciate the offer, but I am fine carrying it myself. You seemed to be in a hurry."

"Well, I kinda... Sorta... Was. Then I ran into you!" She giggled, which was one of her many effective ways of letting someone's guard down. Another one of her ways was to give a "demonstration" which usually meant frying something alive. It was rare, but when she got angry, it showed. So far, this had happened thrice; the first time was when her only book that was in her cloak pocket when she was found was ruined (a mouse was the victim), the second time was because a man at an inn the Shepherds temporarily stayed at insulted her parents (this time Henry had to use a memory wipe spell and had to help her hide the body) and the latest time was because she found that, on her page in the roster, someone had added "most likely to slaughter us all and get fat from eating our rotting carcasses" at the bottom of her page (turns out it was by one of the Risen that stole the roster. She cleared the entire map by herself. For mindless corpses, some Risen have very convincing handwriting!).

"It's just like you to be in a hurry," Gerome smirked, "what are you up to?"

" _Oh darn! I can't let him catch on!"_ Morgan thought. She kept her smile up, and replied "I was going to buy some food to practice cooking on. You know, pies and all that? Grandm-I mean, Sumia's pies are delicious, and I want to see if I can best her in the art of pie-making!" Morgan's eyes had a look of determination in them, very reminiscent of her mother.

"Hmm. Makes sense," Gerome mused for a moment "you are the competitive type. And strong, too. I can imagine you facing off against other heroes of legend in combat, such as the Radiant Hero... Or maybe even the Hero-King himself!"

"You... You really think so?" Morgan's cheeks had a red tint to them. She hoped Gerome wouldn't notice, but it was hard to read what he was thinking with that mask on.

"Well the Outrealms exist, so there is the possibility. I've heard an invitation to a fighting tournament such as that was given to Robin and Lucina. I remember hearing about how Chrom tried to sneak his way in to check on them, but got very badly injured in doing so."

"Oh no! Was he alright?"

"Of course he was, he'll get his chance another day. But for now, I must feed Minerva. She gets very antsy without her food. It was a pleasure talking to you."

"Oh, sorry! I must've kept you for too long. See you around!" Gerome gave Morgan a quick nod, and continued dragging the sacks of food towards the paddocks.

" _I never saw Gerome of all people as the charming type,"_ a coy smile found its way onto Morgan's face " _But that's for another day. I have a mission I must fulfil!_ " She strode at a quicker pace towards the food market in the town, ardent on succeeding in the latest of her missions.

Later on in the day, Morgan returned with plenty of food, much to the delight of her friends.

"O Mighty Robinspawn, you have graced us with your omnipotence and ability to haggle down prices!" Owain inspected the copious amounts of food and shook a triumphant fist in the air.

"Well, I may have let the shopkeeper in on the plan, and he gave me extra for free!"Morgan beamed, happy to help.

"You did take quite a while. Did anything happen?" Cynthia quickly grabbed the hallucination powder (more simply known as "Hell's Sauce" amongst the other Shepherds).

"Well, I ran into Gerome. I managed to divert him away from our plan, as we all know how he would act if he found out."

"Hmm... He's a mysterious man all right, I'll give him that..." Nah pondered over the information "But can we be one hundred percent sure he doesn't know about the plan?"

"The DragonSpawn raises a fine point, as sharp as Ragnell itself!" Owain practically yelled, shaking his fist in the air but instantly regretting it as his knuckles collided with the corner of the table.

"To be honest... He may find out."

"Ah... That's bad..." Nah was deep in thought, trying to find an answer. As if she could read minds, Cynthia spoke up.

"Is there any way we could distract him?" She chirped, grinning at the idea of doing it under "Dragon-Man's" nose.

"I do have an idea in mind..." Morgan mused.

"Well spill the beans!" Nah leaned over the table to hear Morgan's plan.

"I could take him on a fake-date while you enact the plan, I'm sure Henry or Father has a tome lying around that allows me to secretly communicate with you!"

"By Jove, that's a great idea! When shall we put this plan into action?"

"I think tomorrow is best, it gives us all night to prepare!"

"Excellent. Nah, we'll arrange the meeting with the S&B Society, and Owain: You keep an eye on the food!" Cynthia shook with anticipation "This is going to be so amazing!"

Morgan simply smirked. She knew exactly what she was going to do...


	3. Chapter 3: An arrangement

Evening had quickly arrived. Morgan had finished getting ready a couple of hours prior, so she was reading through one of Robin's strategy books that she "borrowed" from his desk.

"I wish Gerome would hurry up,"she thought out loud, "Severa and Brady will arrive soon!"

Just then, a small purple tome that was on the desk started shaking slightly. Morgan flipped open the tome, and shouted: "HEYYY? CAN YOU HEAR MEEEEE?"

"No need to be so loud! But yeah, we can hear you. Severa and Brady will be here shortly. I'm guessing Gerome hasn't shown up yet?" Nah's voice came quietly back through the tome.

"Nope, not yet. He should arrive soon... I hope. Say, how did you get the tome to work this time?"

"Well, we had to get Tharja's help. She had to use a very... Unorthodox method. I'm sure Priam will recover, but we have until midday tomorrow before the tome's effect wears off, which gives us more than enough time to enact the plan."

"Indeed it doe-"

"Morgan? Are you there?" Gerome's rough voice came from behind the tent flap.

"Gotta go!" Morgan whispered to the tome, shutting it and placing it in her pocket. She launched herself from the stool she was perching on, and exited the tent.

"You only got here five minutes late, I'm impressed!" Morgan said in her usual cheery voice.

"Considering you are the definition of optimism that doesn't surprise me," Gerome let out a small chuckle "but anyways we should get going now, I've already wasted enough time!" he suddenly took a stride forward and started walking away from the tent.

"Uh, Gerome? You're going the wrong way."

"..." Gerome turned around, "I knew that. I was testing your ability to remember details."

"Sure you were."

"This'd better not be a waste of my time," Severa huffed, sitting down at the table next to Cynthia. Brady was on her left, and Owain and Nah were on the other side of the table.

The table was covered in food of all sorts, prepared by Cynthia and Owain. There was everything, from turkey and beef to potatoes and broccoli (if anyone actually cared for broccoli, that is. There were rumours between the few dark mages who could directly contact Grima that even the demon-dragon himself despised the green stumps).

"Hot damn, this probably took ages to cook!" Brady already had a plate full of food, and didn't waste a second shovelling it all into his mouth.

" _I know he's meant to be gentle underneath, but it really takes work trying to get used to that personality..."_ Nah rolled her eyes and reached for some food herself.

Owain followed in Brady's footsteps, practically ripping the turkey in half and stealing most of the beef too, piling it up on his plate.

Cynthia quickly looked over at Nah, who gave her an evil grin. The plan was coming along nicely so far.

"I need to go and check on the cake for a second. Nah, can you look after my food for me?" The Manakete nodded as Cynthia got up from her chair. As she passed by Nah, she grabbed a tome identical to the one Morgan was carrying and slipped it in her pocket.

The second she left, Severa spoke up for the second time, "Owain? Brady? You both are absolutely disgusting." This got a good laugh out of Nah who loved the look on Severa's face as she got caked with food, courtesy of the two men trying to protest with their mouths full.

"They should be here any minute now." Robin glanced up at Lucina who looked back at him for a split second before going straight back to staring at the door.

The duo had already sat down at a table and waited, with a few empty glasses around Robin (he desperately needed the energy from coffee to keep himself awake). They had both found some spare clothes lying around in their tent, so they had changed into them for the evening. They were both wearing capes that had hoods on them, to disguise their faces (it was a choice between that or what all the other Shepherds called "The Abomination" that Lucina thought was a very nice-looking dress. In actuality, it was bright green, with pink spots on it. Robin has tried to burn it ever since he first saw it.)

"She should be here by now, Robin. Do you think something ha-"

"I'm sure they're just late. You need to be more laid back about time. I know that you're a time traveller and all, but... You probably understand what I'm getting at here."

"I wouldn't be so critical about the whole thing, but it's Gerome and Morgan we're talking about here. GEROME. AND. MORGAN. I can't just let this slide, and you know it."

"Well, if you say so." Robin slumped back in his chair, silently praying to Naga that Morgan showed up.

For someone who used to be the antithesis of life, Naga sure did answer his prayer.

Gerome was the first to enter, with Morgan close behind. They sat down at a table near the door, which was a great place for Robin and Lucina to spy on them. Before they ordered anything, they started talking (although what they were saying was inaudible because of how far apart they were sitting).

"From what I can see...Nothing out of the ordinary."

"Because two time travellers, one of them being our daughter, who is also half-death waiting to happen is what you consider normal?" Lucina deadpanned, still staring intently at the back of Gerome's head.

"Considering everything else that's happened to me? Yes, this is fine."

Eventually Morgan and Gerome ordered something to eat, and immediately went back to talking.

"Is that all they're going to do?"

"Knowing Morgan, something's going to happen. Just you wait.

"I think you're starting to worry too much about this, Luce."

Just then, Morgan got up and left to go to the bathroom.

"See? What did I say?"

"I thought something interesting was going to happen." Robin motioned to get up, but Lucina gave him a sharp kick under the table, causing him to cry out in pain for a split second before stifling his mouth.

Hearing the noise, Gerome turned around. As he scanned the area behind him, he listed off all the people that were there.

" _Hmm... Inigo chatting up a bow knight, a couple of dark mages- probably Tharja and Henry, there's Basilio... Nothing too odd, then."_ he turned back around, still confused as to what the sound was. _"There was something odd about Tharja and Henry's clothes, for dark mages those looked nothing like the traditional uniform. Unless it isn't them, but who could it... Wait... No, it can't be them... Could it? No, no, my mind is probably playing tricks on me..."_

Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Morgan was using her tome to talk to Cynthia.

"So, it's nearly time for the cake of doom to show up then?"

"Yup! Everything's going as planned, I don't think either of them are going to catch on. I'm glad you managed to keep Gerome distracted, he would have foiled our plot almost immediately..."

"I'm taking one for the team, as it were. Are the buckets still hidden? They're vital for the plan to succeed.

"The buckets are still in the cupboard, they haven't noticed yet. I think the last of the food has been finished off, so I'd better initiate phase 2 of the plan."

"Right. Good luck with that, and remember: Only give Severa and Brady the slices of cake with an odd amount of strawberries on the top, those are the spiked ones!" Morgan closed the tome, slipped it into her pocket and let out a deep sigh.

" _I hope they don't screw this up, or my genius will have gone to waste... But hey, at least I get to spend more time with Gerome!.. That sounded a lot better before I thought about saying it. I mean, I don't REALLY like him, do I? He's a cool friend, right brain? But I do wonder what he looks like without his mask on... NO BRAIN! Don't think about that kind of stuff! Unless... Oh Naga, I actually like him don't I? Well, darn. There's no way I can stop my subconscious. I'd better not make it obvious, or he'll get creeped out. And he's already incredibly fast to get away from other people. As long as nothing bad happens, everything will be peachy. Just. Peachy."_

After what seemed like an eternity of twiddling his thumbs, Morgan finally returned to the table.

"You were gone for a while."

"Sorryyyyyy, I got distracted with this book I'm currently reading."

"Oh? Let me guess, a book about strategies?"

"Surprisingly no, this one's one that father let me borrow. It's called 'Ribald Tales of The Faith War,' and it's quite an interesting story, recounting the epic struggle of... Um... A lord, with some very descriptive naughty bits in it." Morgan gave Gerome a very malicious grin.

If he hadn't had the mask on, Morgan would have seen his face go red from embarrassment.

"Is there any reason in particular that Robin originally had the book in the first place?"

"Good point... It doesn't seem like his kind of book... Maybe mother let him read it?

"That makes the most amount of sense. Speaking of your parents, does it feel strange that you can only remember Robin and not Lucina?"

"Well, yes, but I can't shake the feeling that me only remembering father was for some godly convenience. It's just so weird that only my memories of mother were erased... I definitely know that she is my mother, as I did remember what her face looked like in the future... But that's it."

"Hmm... That is most intriguing. I imagine it must be odd that you're still peppy all the time despite not being able to remember your past."

"Well, what makes me feel even slightly upset is that I still have Grima's blood in me."

"But Grima was killed, correct?"

"Yes, but that is this timeline's Grima. I have no idea if the Grima in my world died. I can't remember when I last checked, but I swear I still have his mark."

"I'm sure that having the ability to wield Falchion neutralises the dark energy in your blood circulation, I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Really? Aww..."

"Wait, weren't you just worried that you might still have Grima's blo-"

"I really wanted to have awesome dragon powers!"

Gerome rubbed the bridge of his nose with his hand.

"There's just no winning with you, Morgan..."


	4. Chapter 4: Datewatchers

Morgan and Gerome were halfway through eating their food. Robin was struggling to stay awake, but Lucina still had her gaze set on the pair.

"Lucina, we've been here for three hours... Nothing bad has happened, and I'm really starting to question the entire point of this."

"I'd like to remind you Robin that on our first proper date you accidentally lost all of the Shepherd's money, got us forced into washing every single house in the village for a week, and then we all found out you were Grima's vessel. I don't care how long we have to wait here, I can just tell that something bad will happen."

"If you're that serious about it, fine." Robin got out of his seat, "You stay here, and I'm going ho-" as he started walking towards the door he tripped over one of the table legs.

What happened next could only be described as an incredibly circumstantial and unfortunate chain of events.

The poor tactician went hurtling through the air, colliding straight into Gerome's back, causing him to slam down on the table, flipping the table upwards. Morgan managed to dart backwards as food rained down everywhere, causing the ground to become slippery. Basilio, who was already drunk enough as it is, started slipping on the floor and eventually he tripped as well, his axe twirling forwards until it embedded itself into Inigo's arm. Yelling in pain, Inigo started flailing his arms around, accidentally punching someone in the face. This caused the person in question (who just happened to be a very drunk Vaike as well) to smash a bottle of beer over the table he was sitting at in an attempt to stab Inigo with it.

By now, many of the diners there had run away in panic, leaving the Shepherds all furiously locked in combat.

Inigo shakily used his shoulder plate as a shield from Vaike, backing towards the door in a feeble attempt to escape. Gerome had been winded, and was lying on the ground curled up in a ball. Basilio had Robin in a headlock, and was trying to suffocate him. In response, Robin managed to ignite a spark in his hand using magic, burning Basilio's arm, allowing him to get free. Reaching into his pocket, he grabbed a Bolganone tome and shot a concentrated ball of fire at the axe still wedged in Inigo's arm. In a blind panic, Inigo ripped it out and threw it, clutching the resulting arm wound and dashing out of the door. Robin grabbed the burning axe, and slammed it into the ground, causing a small wall of fire to spread out in a ring around him, which forced Vaike and Basilio to jump out of the way. Gerome managed to roll under a table in the nick of time, singing some of the hairs on the back of his head.

Steadying himself, he snatched a chair and slammed it into Vaike's face, breaking his nose. He then kicked Vaike into a wall, causing the drunken man to lose consciousness. Robin and Basilio were fighting dagger-to-Levin-sword, both men clashing their weapons against each other's, causing sparks to shoot out onto the ground. This caused the small embers on the ground to ignite, catching fire. Soon the fire spread, and the entire ground floor of the building was full of flames and smoke.

Morgan, who had been hiding behind the upturned table the entire time, sprinted towards the door, and Lucina followed suit. Eventually, Robin was sent flying through a window, sprawling on the grass outside the building. Basilio, covered in cuts, clambered after him, just as the entire structure's ground floor collapsed, sending splinters of wood and stone rocketing out in all directions. The rest of what was once a restaurant lurched backwards, cracks appearing on its walls. The cracks eventually split, and the entire building collapsed into the river behind it with a thundering boom. River water sprayed all over the banks, as flaming chunks of stone fell from the sky; some landed in the river, others on the grassy knolls near the remains of the building. The top of the smouldering wreck came crashing down on some houses that were by the bank, causing the houses to collapse. Many of the villagers and Shepherds had arrived to see it go down, many of them speechless at how much destruction had happened in the space of twelve minutes.

The entire time this had happened, Lucina and (especially) Morgan had been absolutely mortified.

"Robin, Khan Basilio, Gerome and Vaike. All four of you are on trial for causing collateral damage, injuries and public unrest."

Following the incident, the four perpetrators were arrested and taken to court to be punished. Basilio had a slight smirk on his face, while the other three men were hanging their heads in shame.

"The cost of the damages done to the village roughly equate too... Eighty-five thousand, four hundred and ninety Gold." Basilio's smirk was suddenly erased, and Robin's head hung even lower.

"The gallery will now decide on the fate of all four of you. Depending on their judgement, you could be: Required to do community service, pay for the damages, or be exiled from the town... Permanently. " Gerome and Vaike's faces were deathly pale, and Robin's eyes were darting from the judge to the floor. Basilio didn't really care either way, he had half if an entire country to help rule (as Flavia was the champion Khan she got the final say on what happened in Regna Ferox), so getting kicked out was no big deal for him. Eventually, some of the townsfolk started speaking up.

"I say we make them pay!"

"They should be kicked out for what they've done!"

"I've heard one of 'em is the Fell Dragon, they deserve to be exiled!"

"I think they should be forced to clean up all the town's rubbish for a year!"

The cacophony of voices caused the men (excluding Basilio) to be more on edge. They were already embarrassed enough, and Robin really didn't need reminding that he was the reason why everyone had been living in fear up to the past two years.

"ORDER! Gallery, have you come to a conclusion?" There were plenty of nods and muses of agreement. "Then state your verdict."

"We have come the decision that each of them shall be punished accordingly: Khan Basilio shall pay a sum of the Gold needed to restore the houses and the river, Vaike and Gerome will be tasked with community service, and Robin is to be temporarily exiled from th-"

"Temporarily exiled? Explain."

"Considering he started the incident, and he was the vessel of Grima," this prompted a loud and angry response from Robin that involved a lot of swearing, "we decided that he shall be temporarily exiled from the village until it is deemed safe enough for him to return, as he is an important figure to the village. In that time, his tomes and other weaponry will be kept safely stored in the village's depository until he returns."Robin let out a sigh of defeat before responding.

"No wonder Grima wanted to kill you dickheads so bad." He instantly regretted it as his once-week exile was increased to two weeks.

After the court had been disbanded, Robin stomped his way to his tent to collect the few possessions he was allowed to take in his cloak pockets.

In the space of time between the incident and the court hearing, Morgan had kept herself completely hidden from the entire village. Lucina had also tried to hide her face as well, knowing the other Shepherds would never let her (or Robin) live it down.

After filling his pockets with everything that he needed, Robin set off for the border of the forest surrounding the town. As he approached the bridge leading out of town, he heard footsteps behind him.

"You really let something like this happen again?"

"I'm sorry Chrom, but how was I to know that tripping over a damn cape would cause a building to collapse? Also, that comment about me being Grima really wasn't necessary back there. The person who said that had better thank their lucky stars that I couldn't see their-"

"I'm disappointed in you, Robin. As our tactician, you should have known better."

"You know as well as I do that I'm not a proper tactician anymore. The war ended three years ago, Chrom. Now all I do is write out paperwork and read books."

"Paperwork that allows me to send off Shepherds to deal with the rebellion currently happening in Plegia and Valm."

"Rebellions? What are you talking ab-"

"Robin, you must leave now." A guard approached the duo, with a lance in hand. Robin turned around and started walking away from the village. Without looking back, he waved a single hand at Chrom before disappearing into the trees.

" _See you in two weeks, friend."_ Chrom rubbed the bridge of his nose and returned back to camp.

"Morgan?... Morgan, are you around here?" Gerome was trying to grab her attention. He was searching around the southernmost part of the village, concluding that this is where Morgan had been hiding herself out of shame, as it was an area that had been abandoned long ago, and full of hiding spots.

"Morgan, I know you're around here somewhere. You need to come and talk to Lucina; she's getting worried about you now." Gerome heard a rustling sound, and soon a very groggy Morgan appeared from behind a large tree.

"What do you want, Gerome?" Morgan's usual happy-go-lucky attitude had been replaced with a very tired and annoyed one. She had a scowl on her face, and she had bags under eyes.

"I.. I apologise for what happened yesterday Morgan, I shouldn't have done that to Vaike, and-"

"You don't need to apologise, I'm madder at Father than anyone else. He was a complete and utter embarrassment. How are the people going to vision me when I'm his daughter?"

"Considering your 'demonstrations' I don't think anyone's going to comment on it." This got a small (yet still incredibly angry) smile out of Morgan.

"I heard you say that Mother's getting worried?"

"Oh, right. Robin got exiled from the town for two weeks, and Lucina hasn't taken the news too well. I think you should go and talk to her."

"I can do that. Say, what was your punishment for kicking Vaike's ass?" Morgan's expression was less furious now.

"I have to clean up all the rubble surrounding the river with Vaike. It will probably take us quite a few days, considering how much of a twit he can be sometimes. Also, this may be a bad time to ask, but... Would you mind going out on another date with me sometime? To make up for what happened yesterday?" Morgan's eyes lit up.

"Sure! Maybe this time we could check to make sure we aren't getting spied on!"

"Good idea," Gerome chuckled, "but for now we should get on with what we have to do. I'll see you around." Gerome strode off in the direction of the river, leaving Morgan to go to her tent to talk with Lucina.

On the way there, she ran into Cynthia.

"Hey, Cynthia! Was the plan successful?" Cynthia gave her a sad look.

"Ugh, it was not in the slightest! Just as we were about to give them the cake, there was a colossal boom and they ran off to investigate the noise! The plan became a complete failure!" Cynthia stomped one foot into the ground."

"Darn, of course that would happen at the last minute. We need to think of a more foolproof plan next time!"

"I thought our plan _was_ foolproof?"

"I didn't foresee an entire building collapsing now, did I?" Morgan shrugged, before setting off again, "we'll have to factor that in next time!"

Lucina was lying down on her bed. She couldn't believe what Robin had done as much as Morgan, but she knew that it was certainly something nobody saw coming, so she couldn't hold it against him that much.

"Mother? Can I come in?" Upon hearing Morgan's voice, Lucina sat upright on her bed.

"Of course dear, I've been worried about you!"Morgan entered the tent and sat down next to Lucina.

"I was told by Gerome. Has Father really been kicked out for two entire weeks?"

"...Yes..." Lucina stared downwards. Morgan slung an arm around Lucina's shoulders. "What's wrong, Mother? Are you still angry with him?"

"No, no. Not over this. But him suddenly just going reminds of two years ago. It reminds of that too much..." Lucina felt tears welling up in her eyes.

"Mother, he won't be gone for nearly as long as that. It's only two weeks, which is nothing compared to then!" She cuddled up closer to Lucina, "and if it makes you feel better, he probably misses you more than you miss him! I'm sure that you'll be the main thing on his mind until he comes back!"

Lucina wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and gave Morgan a shaky smile. "I know it's trivial to get upset over something like this, but back then I genuinely thought he had... Gone for good. It's hard to get over it sometimes."

"I understand Mother, I missed him too. But if anything, we know now that he won't be getting himself into trouble anymore after this. And then he will never go away afterwards, for good!"

"I hope so," Lucina's smile was a lot more genuine this time, "and when he comes back... Never mind, that can wait for a while." Lucina motioned to get off the bed, and Morgan took her arm away from Lucina's shoulders. "Now then Morgan, I think it's time that I trained you to wield Falchion properly." Morgan shot off the bed and had already grabbed Falchion from the floor next to the bed.

"Trust me Mother, I've improved a lot!"

"That's great, I'd love to see what my daughter is capable of!"


	5. Chapter 5: Atonement

_Dusk had approached quickly, shrouding everything in darkness. Robin had entered a clearing, and was surrounded by trees._

 _He had made a campfire, and had left it to burn. He dragged an upturned log over to the fire, and sat down on it, pilling his cloak closer around himself. The night had brought a freezing cold wind with it, and the fire was all Robin had to keep himself warm. He sat in front of the fire for at least three hours, trying to keep awake. He was thinking, thinking about what had happened earlier on in the day, and about how Lucina and Morgan must feel. Then he remembered that he left without saying a word to either of them. His already dreary mood was made even worse by that, as he knew that neither of them would be happy with him._

 _The wind had started to pick up, and threatened to put out the fire. Robin quickly grabbed some more twigs, and threw them at the flame. As he did this, the wind picked up again. Robin had to collect more and more sticks as the wind grew ever harsher. Eventually, the wind became a large gust. The fire was put out almost instantly, and Robin struggled to stay upright. He heard large cracking sounds, and then a colossal wall of bright purple flames exploded out from behind the trees._

 _With an ominous noise of giant bones and flesh creaking and twisting, directly in front of him, a gargantuan red eye was staring at him. An eye he knew all too well._

 _Grima._

" _ **SO, THIS IS THE FATE OF MY SUPPOSED VESSEL,"**_ _The Fell Dragon's voice boomed, blowing over some of the trees in the area, "_ _ **A PATHETIC HUSK OF WHAT YOU ONCE WERE. OF WHAT WE WERE."**_ _Robin could only stare, petrified, as two more eyes opened and bore holes directly into his soul, "_ _ **YOUR ENTIRE FAMILY, THE SHEPHERDS, WILL BE BAPTISED IN HELLFIRE BEFORE THE YEAR IS OUT. I WILL MAKE SURE THAT EVERY WAKING MOMENT FOR YOU UP UNTIL THEN IS TORTURE. NOTHING BUT SCREAMS IN THE BACK OF YOUR MIND. THE CRIES OF ANGUISH OF ALL THE INNOCENT PLEGIANS, VALMESE AND...YLISSEANS, THAT YOU FAILED TO SAVE. YOU DARED TO DEFY ME. YOU DARED TO SPIT IN THE FACE OF A GOD!"**_ _Grima let out a bellow that caused the ground itself to shift and crack violently, purple flames erupting from the ground. Robin was thrown backwards, slamming into the floor, as the ground in front of him sank into a fiery pit below._

" _ **I'LL MAKE SURE THAT THE TIME TRAVELLING BITCH SUFFERS THE MOST PROLONGED AND PAINFUL DEATH IMAGINABLE. HER SCREAMS WILL BE MUSIC TO MY EARS. MY MUSIC OF VICTORY. BUT... YOU. YOU HAVE WORN OUT YOUR USEFULNESS!"**_ _with another ear-splitting screech, the Dragon raised itself to its full height..._

 _And lunged._

Robin awoke in a spasm, breathing heavily. His head was throbbing and his entire body felt like it was on fire.

Shaking in fear, Robin sat upright, clutching his head in one hand, and grasping at the dirt below him in the other.

"That... But... Grima is dead... Why would I dream of something like that...?" He gasped for air between words, trying to calm himself down. His eyes darted to his left hand, checking for any signs of the cursed mark. Luckily, there weren't any.

"This couldn't have been just a nightmare, no... It was far too real for that. A nightmare couldn't make me feel like this..." he hesitantly got up off the floor, and looked at his surroundings.

To the west, north and south, there was nothing but trees. He could see the trail from where he had come, and the footsteps that he had left in the dirt. To the east, he could see the village in the distance, past a second river that was on the outskirts of the complex.

Give or take a few days, he had been out in the forest for a week. He had crafted a razor blade out of a small piece of wood, and he had some food left since he was allowed to bring some with him. He only had to bear one more week, and hope that the nightmares didn't become any more frequent.

Letting out a long, feeble sigh, he dragged himself along the path in front of him, hoping to find something to distract himself with.

Morgan and Lucina's week had been spent much differently. They had started sparring against each other at least once a day, as Lucina attempted to make up for spying on Morgan on her date. Since they kept breaking all the practice weapons, Morgan had to use a proper silver sword to fight with. Lucina, as usual, kept using Falchion, as it couldn't be broken and because it was the weapon she was most accustomed to. They raised their weapons.

"You may have won last round Mother," Morgan spoke in an aggressive tone, "but I won't make the same mistakes that I did last time!" Sprinting towards Lucina, she swung her sword upwards in an arch, which Lucina blocked with little effort.

"You've improved enough to defeat me in the space of two hours?" Lucina hopped to the side and lunged, thrusting Falchion forwards, aiming for Morgan's side. Knowing that Lucina was going to predict her blocking the attack and would go for a second strike from above, Morgan readied herself. Just as the young girl had predicted, Lucina suddenly shifted her stance, with her momentum being used to swing Falchion down from above. Morgan raised her sword her head and stood with both heels digging into the ground, using all her strength to stop her mother's onslaught. What Morgan hadn't predicted was Lucina using a sweeping kick, causing Morgan to come crashing to the ground. Before she could get up, she felt the tip of Falchion being pressed against the back of her neck.

"Hey, that wasn't fair!" Morgan grumbled, picking herself on the floor and sitting on the ground when she felt the sharp edge move away from her.

"It may be unfair to you, but it could potentially save your life." Lucina sheathed Falchion, and sat on the ground next to Morgan. "You may think that it's an unfair way of fighting, but on the battlefield the enemy will give you no quarter. Chances are they'll try using it too, so you must be on guard for such a move."

"I can beat Father at his own game so easily, but I can barely swing a sword..." Morgan huffed, dropping her weapon on the ground.

"You're definitely more of a magic user than anything, but that shouldn't deter from using swords, especially if you have to wield Falchion yourself one day."

"I don't know if I can, Mother. I still have Grima's blood, just like Father. I think that gets in the way of being able to use Naga's holy weapon."

"But Grima is dead, is he not? That should negate any dark power that you have in your blood. If you want to, we could test to see if you are compatible with Falchion."

"Really?" Morgan piped up, "didn't you do this before with Cynthia?"

"Yes, yes I did. Unfortunately for her, she couldn't wield Falchion, and Owain is... Too caught up in his fantasy worlds to bother trying, so it falls to you to wield it." Standing up, she unsheathed Falchion and handed it Morgan, who sprang up instantly upon grabbing the hilt of the legendary blade.

"I can't believe that I'm actually holding Falchion..." Morgan stared at the sword with awe, then stepped away from Lucina and gave it a couple of practice swings.

"It feels really light, almost too light. Are you sure this can kill stuff?" Morgan looked over to Lucina, who was deep in thought.

"Well, the fact you can wield it with ease is a good sign, but we need you to test it on something. Chances are there's a spare log lying around camp we could use."

"Right! I'll go and find one!" Morgan shot off before Lucina could get a single word out.

" _She certainly has energy to spare..."_ Lucina slowly followed after the girl, hoping to Naga that Morgan would be able to wield Falchion. She had her own reasons for doing so, but Morgan didn't need to know. She didn't want to put any more stress on the girl after the events of the previous week.

"Mother! I found a log we can use!" Morgan had searched all over the village, and had finally found a log near Kellam's tent.

" _Finally... Maybe she'll stop running all over the place..."_ Lucina thought.

"So, is there a specific way I have to attack the log?"

"Not at all, you just have to swing at the log, and if it cuts through the log then you can wield Falchion."

"Well, that's simple enough!" Morgan turned the log upright and took a step back.

" _You can do this... You can do this... You can do this..."_ with a yell, Morgan rushed forwards , swinging Falchion to the left.

As the blade made contact with the wood, it sliced clean through the log. Morgan gave it a gentle kick, and the top half of the log fell clean off.

"Yes! It worked!" Morgan cheered, imitating Chrom's pose by slamming the blade into the ground.

"It cut perfectly through the log... I'm proud of you, Morgan." Lucina smiled gently. Knowing that Morgan could wield the divine sword even with Grima's blood meant that she was definitely an heir of Chrom's, and by extension she was definitely Lucina's daughter. This relieved Lucina greatly, as she knew that, if something were to happen to her, Morgan would be able to take care of herself.

"We have to go and tell grandp-er Chrom!" before she could rush off again, Lucina grabbed hold of her arm.

"You need to stop being in such a hurry young lady," Lucina took Falchion from Morgan's hand and sheathed it, much to Morgan's dismay. "I don't want you tripping and stabbing yourself with Falchion."

"Pssh, the likelihood of that happening is tiny!" Morgan took a step forward and instantly tripped. She tried getting up in a hurry to make it look like it was nothing, only to slip and fall over again.

"I, uh... I see what you mean now..." Lucina was in fits of laughter, causing Morgan to stomp off towards Chrom's tent.

"Right... Two more forms to sign, blah blah blah, invitation to some royal's wedding, sure, probably free that day..."

Chrom was sitting down at his desk, writing on paper after paper. As it turns out, after a war involving mountain-sized dragons, there's a lot of paperwork in the aftermath, as well as everyone deciding to get married afterwards, which meant Chrom got lots and lots of wedding invitations, and war taxes, amongst other things.

"Resources need to be delivered to the Valmese capital by August, or there will be insufficient supplies, blah blah bl-"

"ChromChromChromguesswhatIcanwieldFalchionandIcutthroughalogan-"

"Hi Morgan..." Chrom gave little attention to the sprightly tactician entered his tent, as he was still signing form after form . Morgan had to regain her breath for a couple of seconds.

"Mother let me wield Falchion, and I can cut things with it!"

"That's interesting Morgan," taking no notice of what Morgan said, Chrom dropped the latest pile of signed paper on the floor next to him. He stretched, and then slumped forwards on the table.

"I just can't catch a break with all this paperwork..." Chrom moaned, letting out an exasperated sigh.

"Do you want me to make all your troubles go away?" Morgan grinned, as Chrom let out another moan of exhaustion.

"Sure... Whatever."

"Hello, Father." Lucina had finally caught up to Morgan, who had once again run off, even though she had previously tripped over many times and said she would stop running (Lucina made a mental note to herself to keep Morgan close whenever she went off to do something) .

"Hi Lucina..." Chrom said in a muffled voice, with his face still on the desk.

"Morgan hasn't been pestering you, has she?"

"I would never! I just need to borrow Falchion quickly!"

"Right, but what are you going to use it for?" Lucina unsheathed Falchion, but held on to it until Morgan answered.

"I wanna show Chrom what I can do! I promise nobody will get hurt!" Morgan gave Lucina a pleading look.

"Ok, but if anyone ends up in the infirmary tent I won't allow you to wield it again." Lucina hesitantly gave Morgan Falchion. She didn't like using the blade in small spaces, since she knew that someone or something was going to get damaged, so she stepped back out of the tent the instant Morgan grabbed the sword.

"Chrom, you see this stack of paper on the ground?" Chrom lifted his head up and looked at Morgan.

"Yeah, what abou-"Morgan swung Falchion down right in front of his face. Luckily for him, Falchion missed, but cut straight through the stack of paper in front of him. As he recollected himself, he stared in disbelief at all the white sheets slowly floating to the ground around him, many of them cut in half.

"You... You can wield Falchion?"

"Yep! Also, sorry if I nearly cut your face off. My depth perception is really bad when using swords." Morgan scratched the back of her head.

"Then I guess you really are my heir."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean? Was the fact that I happened to show up after Mother and Father fell in love, I have the mark of Naga and blue hair not enough evidence?" Morgan huffed, gripping onto Falchion threateningly.

"That's not what... Never mind." Chrom looked around the room, "I guess I need to start clearing this up then."

"You needn't move a muscle!" Morgan pulled a large, turquoise book out of her pocket. "If I find the right incantation, then I can use magic to do it for you!"

"I think you've caused enough damage, Morgan." Lucina re-entered the tent and took Falchion from Morgan.

"Aww, but Mother! I just want to help!"

"There's a difference between 'helping' and 'destroying.'"

"Alright, I'll just leave poor Chrom here to clean up all by himself..."

"Well, I would prefer it if you destroyed all this paperwork for me."

"Really?" Morgan readied the tome "I think I've found the incantation..."

"What tome is it that you're using?"

"This one? It's, uh... Rexcalibur."

"Do you mean Rexcalibur as in 'the really powerful wind magic capable of blowing away a castle?' Because I don't think you should use that for a simple clean-up job."

"Are you just here to disagree with everything I say or do?"

"No, I'm here to make sure nobody gets killed."

"Well then how about I use this tome I found? It's called Forblaze, an-"

"THAT'S EVEN WORSE."

"I give up! I'll go practice magic on something else then!" Morgan left the tent, with her two tomes in each hand.

"I am so sorry Father, she can be very... Energetic sometimes."

"At least she uses that energy for good things."

"I can hardly call obliterating the continent with one of the deadliest tomes known to man a good thing..."

"If I had to choose, I'd take a continent being set on fire over the entire Earth. Anyway, I need to clean up this mess." Chrom got up from his chair and stooped to pick up the paper scattered across the room.

Upon hearing the sound of small explosions and Lon'Qu yelling, Lucina ran out of the tent to track down Morgan.

"Why d-does there have to be s-s-so much crap everywhere?" Gerome and Vaike were busy shovelling all the wreckage from the building out of the river. It had taken them three days just to remove the rubble that was nearest to the village (mainly due to Vaike's incompetence), and they had just about reached the debris in the river.

"Why is this river so...Cold?" Vaike was shivering as he scooped up the stones from the water.

"It wouldn't be so... C-cold if you were wearing p-p-proper clothing!" Gerome grumbled, his fingers trembling as he held onto his shovel.

"Admit it, you're f-f-freezing too!"

"I am n-not!"

"Then why are you sh-shivering?"

"..."

"Exactly!" Vaike gave Gerome a smug grin. In return, Gerome gave him a low sweep to the legs, causing the muscle-man to fall face first into the water.

"AGGHGGH IT'S SO COOLLLDDD GEROME HELP MEI'M DYINGGG!" Vaike splashed around in the water, desperately trying not to freeze. Gerome was laughing so hard he didn't notice the freezing ball of Vaike come hurtling towards him. He collided with Gerome, causing him to go flying and land in the water himself.

"DAMMIT VAIKE IT'S FREEZING!" by now Owain had shown up to watch the duo writhe in the water.

"What a marvellous display! I had no idea that you two could do such amazing impressions of a limbless frog!" Owain was in fits of laughter, wiping tears from his face. The laughter suddenly stopped when he noticed the two men walk towards him, glaring menacingly.

"Did I say limbless frogs? What I really meant was majestic water drago-AIIIEEEE!" Owain was grabbed by the arms and thrown into the brine, the thin fabric of his clothes doing nothing to warm him in the icy water.

Soon, the second week had arrived. It was Friday evening, and the Shepherds were all busy relaxing. Morgan had gone to sleep early, as she had spent the entire week relentlessly training both her magic ability and swordsmanship. She had tried combining the two, but realised too late that strong fire magic and metal weapons do not work well together. Lucina had spent time with Owain as his birthday had been just a couple of days prior, and she was one of the few people with enough patience to listen to his ranting.

"...After the black knight charged, I readied Tyrfing and slaughtered hundreds of his soldiers on nothing but willpower and rage alone!" Owain was triumphantly swinging his sword around, having a swordfight with the air.

"That's an... Interesting story." Lucina wasn't really paying any attention to him, as she was too busy reading a book that Morgan had given back to her (It was Ribald Tales Of The Faith War, and to save Robin from the embarrassment he would get if anyone found out he owned it, Lucina had said it belonged to her). She found the book actually interesting at some points, but then it became incredibly... Graphic at some points, which completely ruined the dramatic mood the book was going for.

"After the soldiers had felt my wrath, I went straight for the general himself! 'YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME!' he yelled, and he tried to stab me with his lance, but alas! I was too quick, and I cut off his hand with Tyrfing and stabbed him in the chest before he could... Are you listening to me?"

"Uh-of course I am! You, uh... Probably just killed another entire army, or something."

"Yep! That is what the black knight gets for attempting to get in the way of Owain Dark!" He raised his sword above his head, yelling a victory theme incredibly loudly.

"Owain, do you know what the time is?"

"Why yes, it is midnight! The darkest of hours! The dusk before the dawn! Th-"

"It's midnight already? Robin should be back soon... I'd better go and see if he's returned." Lucina hurriedly left Owain to his ramblings as she made her way to the East of the village.

" _He'll have to show up soon, he's nearly never late._ _I wonder how he's gotten on? He's never really been one for knowing what to do in a situation like his._ " Lucina was sitting on a crate by the bridge that went out of the town. She had sat there for ten minutes, and there was still no sign of the tactician.

" _If I remember correctly, this is the only exit out of the village, so I can't have missed him. What's taking him so long?"_ Lucina was starting to get worried. In the future, she and her friends had established that, when any of them went out on a recon mission to try and find food, if they were gone for more than eight hours than they were most likely dead. Robin was usually very punctual, and there were only two times that Robin had ever been late to anything (that she could remember), which only made her worry even more.

" _I don't think there's any dangerous animals in the area, so he can't have gotten too badly injured... Right?"_ Lucina was starting to consider going out into the forest to try and find him herself.

Another ten minutes had passed, and Robin had still not shown up.

" _Keep calm, keep calm... He's probably asleep. That has to be it! He's just... Sleeping... In which case, I have to go and find him."_ Lucina unsheathed Falchion and prepared to leave the village when she heard a shuffling noise in the darkness.

"Robin? Is that you?"

"Hi... Lucina..."

Robin slowly limped his way over the bridge leading to the town.

His face was covered in bruises, and his left leg had a large gash in it. His Plegian cloak had lots of rips in it, and he was carrying a sharpened stick.

"Oh gods, Robin! What happened to you?"

"Found a ... Cave to rest in... Turns out a very, VERY angry bear... Lives in that cave! He let out a chuckle before his leg buckled, causing him to sprawl on the ground.

"Oh, yeah... Forgot about... My leg." Lucina rushed over to him, slung his right arm over her shoulder and helped him get up.

"I can't believe you sometimes, Robin. You need to stop getting yourself into so much danger."

"I can't help it...I'm pretty much a danger magne-OW MY LEG!" Robin clutched onto his leg with his free arm.

"That is a very nasty wound. How long have you had it for?

"Yesterday evening... Hurts like hell."

"You've had it for an entire day and you didn't even try treating it?"

"I was panicking and fending off a bear... My mind was too occupied!"

"What if it gets infected?"

"Unless green warts are normal... It already i-"before Robin could finish the sentence Lucina had grabbed his other arm, and in one hefty sweep had slung him completely over her shoulders and bolted. She ran through the camp, holding Robin fireman's carry style, finding the shortest possible route to the infirmary tent. When she did find it, she threw Robin down on the nearest bed there and hurriedly explained to Lissa what had happened (Lissa and Maribelle took turns running the infirmary tent. Lissa did the night shift, and Maribelle did the day shift).

"Green warts, you say? That doesn't sound good. I think that he may need to stay in here for at least three days," this prompted a moan of annoyance from Robin, "but luckily it's treatable at this stage. If he hadn't shown up today, I don't think he would have made it."

"And he wouldn't have had to come here if he didn't get mauled by a bear." Lucina turned her head and glared at Robin for a couple of seconds.

"Well, we've all had our run in with apex predators of some kind, or do wyverns and Grima not count?"

"..."

"Just what I thought. Now, you don't need to worry, he'll be safe with me. You go and get some rest now, it's already morning." Lucina nodded in agreement. Before she left, she walked over to Robin and gave him a very elongated hug.

"Robin? Please don't try to fight a bear ever again."

"That is very high on my priority list at the moment. After solving nightmares and figuring out how to cook properly."

"You've been having nightmares?"

"About Grima, yes. I feel like they're real, but then I wake up and it's gone."

"That's definitely not good."

"Indeed it isn't. But I'd rather focus on not dying of bear wounds first."

"That's probably important too."

"I think it's a lot more difficult to recover when you're hugging me so hard I can feel my ribcage collapsing."

"Well I'm sorry that I'm looking out for you." Lucina loosened her grip slightly.

Just then, they duo heard a sneeze come from another bed. Lucina suddenly sprang off of Robin and awkwardly tiptoed out of the room.

"So, someone else got mauled by a bear?"

"Nope, that was either Vaike or Gerome. They both spent so long in that freezing cold river they caught an illness."

"Oh dear. Well, they kinda deserve it since they got a less menial punishment than me."

"You sure are a nice guy sometimes." Lissa scoffed.

"It's part of my job to be snarky towards everyone."

Lucina entered her tent as silently as she could, and lied down on her bed.

"Where have you been, Mother? Where's Father?"

"Robin's in the infirmary tent. He had a nasty run-in with a bear."

"What!?" Morgan's face grew angry, "How dare a gods-damned bear mess with Father!"

"Don't get too worked up over it, he'll live," Lucina gave Morgan a warm smile, "Only his leg is badly wounded and Lissa's treating it."

"Phew... I'm not letting Father go out into the woods by himself anymore!"

"Neither am I Morgan, neither am I." Lucina rolled onto her side and fell asleep, with Morgan doing the same.

Eventually morning had arrived, and Lucina woke up to a quiet sound of clattering. Sitting upright, she saw Morgan already up, eating a bowl of bright red flesh.

"You're up already...? What are you eating?"

"Good morning, Mother! These bear gizzards are delicious!"

"Bear gizzards? But where did you..." Morgan gave Lucina a malicious grin.

"Morgan? Please tell me you didn-"

"I told you Rexcalibur would come in handy! Turns out it can literally peel the flesh off of a bear!" The horrible image that was stuck in Lucina's mind along with the bright red, fleshy, wrinkly pieces of meat Morgan was eating caused her to faint.

"Oh, you're going back to sleep? Well, good... Morning? Night? Oh well. All the more for me!"


	6. Chapter 6: Recovery (updated ending)

Robin had been back in the village for a few days, and he had been the butt of many jokes. Frederick had begun sitting closer to him whenever he would eat, saying that Robin "could cause more annoyance" much to the tactician's dismay. He had finally been allowed out of the infirmary and could no longer feel the pain in his leg. The entire time, Lucina had been no further than a few feet away from him, making sure he was safe (and that he didn't do anything stupid). Today was the first day that she had left Robin alone for more than five minutes, as she was catching up all the sleep she had missed fretting over Robin's health.

It was morning and Robin was leaving the mess tent after stuffing his face with food, when he was approached by Chrom.

"Ah, Robin. I've been looking for you." the exalt had a slight look of unease as Robin turned to face him.

"Hmm? Is something the matter?"

"Yes, actually." Robin's eyes widened slightly.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, before you left for your... Uh... Exile, do you remember me telling you about some rebellions in Valm and Plegia?"

Oh, yes. I remember," Robin chuckled sheepishly, trying to stop Chrom from noticing he was full of dread at another possible war stirring, "have the rebels been acting up then?"

"Yes... Yes they have. Even though the groups have been separate, they have one thing in common: The adamant belief that Grima is alive." Chrom stared at the ground, and Robin felt a cold chill overtake his body.

"B-but Grima is... Gone. They c-can't be serious." his stomach twisted itself as he tried to keep his composure.

"They seem to be the last of the Grimleal after Grima's demise, so they are probably all lunatics. I don't want you dashing off to stop them, though. I've sent a recon group headed by Cherche to get more information on them. "Chrom looked up at his friend, and saw his body twitching.

"But Grima-"

"Do not worry yourself, friend." the exalt tried reassuring Robin, "Grima is gone, thanks to you. There is no need for you to worry-"

"I've been seeing him again. In my dreams." Chrom's look changed from a friendly smile to one of horror.

"Robin, please. Grima can't hurt anyone any more. Please try to-"

"He keeps saying that he will kill my family. You, Lucina... I can picture his wrath so vividly..."

Robin slumped to the ground, shivering from fear. Chrom no longer knew what to say. Were they just dreams? Or was part of Grima still living?

"Grima is probably trying to torment you in his final moments. Those thoughts will be gone soon."

"He should have died two years ago, Chrom. I spent two years away from all of the Shepherds. What if that was for nothing? What if he is truly invincible?"

"We saw him vanish as you did. There is nothing left of him." Chrom sat down on the ground next to his friend. "If it needs be, you can have the rest of the weekend off. Have some rest. You can't keep trudging around with such thoughts."

Some of the Shepherds had listened in on the conversation, and they too had mixed thoughts.

 _Could Grima really survive the assault they had led on him?_

 _There's no way. No way in hell that he could live._

 _I saw Grima die with my own two eyes! He can't still exist!_

"Father, is something the matter?" Morgan had noticed the duo sitting on the ground and had zipped over to them as quickly as her legs could carry her.

"Hi Morgan. Say, where's your mother?" Robin said half-heartedly, trying to dissuade her from knowing about recent events.

"She's out in Ylisse with Grandma. Also, I can tell something's up. You always refer to Lucina by her name." Robin silently cursed to himself. Chrom had winced slightly at the mention of the word "Grandma." He still couldn't quite get his head around the fact that his best friend was getting hitched to a time traveller from the future, who also happened to be Chrom's own daughter. When he was introduced to Morgan for the first time, he nearly had an aneurism.

"I'm just dealing with some unpleasant thoughts, Morgan. Nothing to worry about."

"It's the nightmares, isn't it?" Robin's eyes shot open.

"H-how did-"

"It was hard _not_ to know, considering everyone could hear you when you woke up in the middle of the night screaming your head off." Robin blushed.

"Was I really that loud?" He looked to Chrom for an answer, but Chrom had one hell of a poker face on.

"Yes! I was trying to get some sleep, but all I could hear was you yelling about Grima all night!" Morgan huffed, dropping to the ground in front of them like a stone. "Grima is dead! He's dead-er than most dead things, so that makes him _preeetttyyy_ dead!" Morgan had a fierce look in her eyes. The dreadful feeling was slowly removing itself from Robin's head. "Y-yeah... I'm sure I'll be fine soon..."

"No, no! Not soon!" Robin looked at his daughter inquisitively "you will feel fine NOW!" Chrom couldn't help but chuckle.

"She really is like a smaller version of Lucina, isn't she?" Robin's mouth flipped from a frown to a small smile.

"She sure is."

"I'm going to ignore the 'smaller' part..." if Morgan was sensitive about anything, it was her height. She was sixteen, but not quite as tall as any of the other shepherds. The last man who tried calling out this fact soon found himself without a few fingers. Robin got up off the ground, stretching. He hoped that Chrom and Morgan's words of encouragement would be enough to help him through his problem, but there was just one more person who he wanted to talk to. Before he could leave, Chrom abruptly stepped in his way.

"It just occurred to me that we got really sidetracked. There's just one more thing I need to tell you." Chrom gave Robin a sheepish look. "The rebels in Valm and Plegia haven't been causing too much trouble apart from their ranting and raving, but if anything comes up we'll need your tactical advice."

"Does this mean what I think it does"? Robin moaned.

"Unfortunately so. More paperwork." Robin groaned even louder, and stumbled away, leaving Chrom grinning to himself and Morgan lying on the ground, sighing.

Lucina had only just got up. She was just about getting to grips with not having to wake up early every morning, but when she slept, she slept like a rock. All of the fatigue from travelling through time had caught up to her. She groggily attempted to put her shoulder pads on (even though her armour didn't really have much use anymore she always wore it as, for a reason she couldn't tell, everyone seemed uneasy around her in one of her "fabulous" dresses), and slowly got up from the foot of her bed. As she stepped towards the door, Robin hastily made his way into the tent.

"Oh, hello Robin. How long have you been awake?"

"Eh, not long." He rubbed his eyes, "I see you've had plenty of sleep." Lucina gave him a tired smile.

"You've not been doing anything stupid...or dangerous recently," she smirked at the tactician, "so I've finally been able to get a good night's rest. How have your, uh, nightmares been?" Robin winced a little and looked away from her.

"They've been... Not good. Not unbearable like the first few, but he's still there, in the back of my mind." even now, he could feel whatever apparition of Grima that was haunting him seethe with fury just for being mentioned. Lucina stared deeply at Robin with a look of concern washing over her face. "With any luck, they'll go soon. Heh, maybe I could get you to stab me in the head with Falchion and drive Grima out that way."

"How could you say such a thing?!" Lucina cried in shock. She took a step back, and clutched her chest with her hand. "I would _never_ use Falchion like that, especially not towards you!"

"Relax, dear. It was a joke." Robin grinned at her, as, she hesitantly stop freaking out.

"Oh... Right. A joke." she breathed out, relaxed a little. Robin was just glad that she didn't recall what had happened after Validar had controlled Robin's mind for the first time. He took a couple of steps towards his bed and fell forwards onto it, rolling over and letting out a deep sigh.

"Going back to bed so soon?"

"I've got a long month of paperwork, paperwork and _more_ paperwork ahead of me. I could use some rest."

"Ok dear, I'm going to have a few sparring matches with Mother today, so have fun with all your paperwork for me." she gave the tactician a sly smile as she headed out of the tent.

"It's nice to see you finally getting to do relaxing stuff." Robin murmured before closing his eyes. Lucina turned her head and smiled at him.

" _And it's nice to see you finally calm about life instead of staying up all night simulating battles."_

 _Robin was back in the forests of his dream. A raging inferno of purple fire darted and prowled through the greenery, burn everything in its way with unrelenting force._

 _ **ONCE AGAIN, YOU RETURN TO ME, WRETCH.**_

 _Once again, Robin found himself staring up into the glowering eyes of a vengeful dragon. Except this time, Robin didn't see Grima as formidable as he once had._

" _If I'm a wretch, what does that make you?" he smirked, seeing the Fell Dragon falter for half a second before gazing down at him with even more murderous intent._

 _ **TALK, TALK,**_ _ **TALK**_ _ **.**_ _ **IT SEEMS THAT IS ALL YOU ARE USEFUL FOR.**_ _The Fell Dragon rasped, his breath swept past Robin. Even in a dream, Robin had to hold back his gagging, for the Dragon smelled of carrion and rotted flesh._

" _You are nothing more than an angry memory, Grima. You don't scare me, or anyone else, anymore."_

 _ **SLAVES STILL SEE ME AS A GOD, AS THEIR ONLY SALVATION FROM THE DISEASE OF MANKIND. IN THE MINDS AND VERY SOULS OF ALL LIVING THINGS, I WILL REMAIN ATTATCHED TO THIS REALM OF EXISTENCE.**_

" _Oh, really? Is that why you scream and throw tantrums and yell like a child?" the Fell Dragon's head sprung back, half in shock that Robin was refusing to succumb to fear, and half in pure rage that the tactician was saying such things._

 _ **YOU... YOU... I SHOULD HAVE KILLED YOU WHEN I HAD THE CHANCE.**_

" _Well sorry, but I reached that conclusion first. How is your neck doing? Has the scar gone yet?"_

 _ **RRRAAAAAAGGGGHHH! I WILL NOT TOLERATE THIS ANY MORE! YOU UNGRATEFUL, REBELLIOUS LITTLE BASTARD. I GAVE YOU LIFE, GAVE YOU A PURPOSE, WITHOUT ME YOU ARE NOTHING MORE THAN A PILE OF FECES LEFT TO ROT BY THE WAYSIDE. I CAN STILL HURT YOUR FAMILY. I CAN STILL BRING YOU UNIMAGINABLE PAIN. YOU. WILL. BOW. TO MEEEEEE!**_

 _A sudden pain rang through Robin's head. He fell to his knees as his brain felt like it would explode. He could feel trickles of crimson running down his nose, and his vision went blurry._

 _ **HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!**_ _Grima laughed mercilessly at Robin's plight,_ _ **YOU REFUSED TO BELIEVE IN MY POWER. WHERE DID IT GET YOU? CLOSER TO THE GROUND. TO YOUR GRAVE.**_ _if Grima had any lips, they would be curved in a smile so wide his head might split in half._

" _I... I...I will never..."_

" _ **NEVER" WHAT, LITTLE BOY? NEVER FORGET ME? NEVER SERVE ME? TOO BAD. I WILL BRING YOU DOWN TO HELL WITH ME.**_

" _I will never let you... Hurt anyone again." Robin shakily got to his feet, and raised a hand at Grima._

 _ **WHAT?!**_ _the Dragon bellowed in rage, uprooting trees with his primordial scream._

" _Your power is diminishing, Grima. You are... Too weak." Robin struggled forwards, with an intense look of determination in his eyes. "As you said, you should have killed me when you had the chance."_

 _ **NO... NOOOOO! I WILL NOT LEAVE!**_ _Grima's body started to contort in pain as his gargantuan body lost power._

 _The tactician wiped his nose with the back of his sleeve and stepped even closer to the writhing pile of flesh that was once Grima._

 _ **ROBIIIIIIIN... I... WILL. OBLITERATE... YOOUUuuuuu...**_ _Grima's body collapsed into the ground, and vanished with a bright violet explosion of flames._

 _Robin sighed, and closed his eyes, relieved._ _Grima had finally left the world of the living, and could no longer do any more harm._

"O glorious Robinspawn! This plan is genius!" Owain cheered as Morgan handed him a bucket full of water. Cynthia, Nah, Owain and the half-fell blood herself were on their second attempt to get back at Brady and Severa for pinching their food. Even though nearly a month had passed, they were out for revenge.

"Nah should be coming any second, so stay behind this wall!" Nah had been bait to get Severa and Brady to follow her, while the other three lay in wait, buckets of ice cold river water in hand.

"Ugh, how long are we going to have to walk? Just tell us why you need us already!" the unmistakable sound of Severa complaining signalled that they were not far off.

"You'll see! You'll see..." If Nah wasn't facing forward, her devilish grin would have given the plan away.

"I've been bustin' my balls training with axes, and now you're gonna make us walk eight thousand damn miles for somethin'? Why?"

"Well, we're actually here...NOW!" upon hearing Nah yell, the three Justice-Cabal-members-in-hiding all jumped out and threw their buckets at Brady and Severa, giving them a swift and hefty douse of ice cold water!

Severa screamed and fell backwards, and Brady nearly fainted from shock.

"AAGHHH! What in the hell?!" Brady was shivering and dripping with water.

"YOU LITTLE- GET BACK HERE!" Severa darted after the Justice Cabal, who were all doubled over with laughter, desperately trying to outrun the fuming red head.

Lucina simply smiled and shook her head. It had taken a lot of convincing from Morgan to get her to watch the plan unfold, especially since Severa and Brady were lifelong friends of hers. She knew that they were in no apparent danger, but if she got caught watching then Severa would never let her hear the end of it. She had seen the entire thing unfold while sitting on top of a crate, and was glad that neither of her two, now thoroughly infuriated and soaked friends had seen her.

"Oh gods, what are that lot up to now?" Robin suddenly perched himself on the crate and slipped one arm around his wife's waist.

"Oh, just some revenge ploy organised by the... Justice Cabal...? Whatever their group is called." Lucina rested her head on Robin's shoulder, and the two of them sat together peacefully for a while.

"Did you get some rest?" Robin was staring off into space when Lucina asked him. He was still occupied thinking about Grima's last moments, and how gracefully undignified they were.

"Yes, I did actually."

"I'm guessing you didn't have any nightmares?" Lucina's voice piped up.

"Well, I did, but Grima has run out of will. He's gone now." the tactician squeezed Lucina's hand tightly. She was silent for a few moments, before responding.

"That's... Wonderful. We'll both be able to sleep easy now."

"Well, we could, but the true nightmare is still around."

"What?! Where?" Lucina instinctively reached for Falchion's sheath.

"It exists in the form of a malevolent being called 'paperwork.'" Robin huffed out a short little sigh.

"Oh. Hehe." the princess awkwardly removed her hand from Falchion.

"Oh well. Everything's going to be better now. Heck, I can hardly believe two weeks ago I was being mauled by a bear!" Robin laughed to himself.

"Having my husband nearly kill himself by being stupid is hardly 'funny...' but I guess you could _bear_ the pain." Lucina cracked a smile as Robin looked at her in shock.

"Did you just... Make a... Joke?!"

"What can I say? You're a bad influence." she pulled Robin closer to her, and once again used him as a pillow.

" _Things are looking up," Robin ran his fingers through the princess' cerulean hair as he thought to himself, "I hope every day is as calming as this for years to come."_

"So... Uh... When are we going to tell your parents?"

"Eh... I'll find a way." during Robin's absence, Morgan and Gerome had gone on a couple more dates, and had both realised that they had accidentally fell for each other. They were both scared of what would happen if Morgan's parents noticed, so they had only just begun doing lovey-dovey things such as holding hands as only Cherche and Lon'Qu had been told about their relationship.

"Robin said he would try not to react like Chrom in this situation, didn't he?" Gerome's voice had a considerable amount of concern to it.

"Don't worry, Lucina can easily talk sense into him!... And reduce the injuries." Gerome went incredibly pale.

"It's a strange feeling... My friend is married to a man I've never met before, who happened to be the vessel of a dragon god that tormented me for years, and now my same friend could end up being my mother-in-law one day..." the dragon rider had never really thought about how much odd stuff had happened ever since the future children left for the past.

"And I wouldn't have it any other way." Morgan giggled and wrapped an arm around him. If it wasn't for his mask, she would have seen how bright red his entire face had gone, including the parts not covered by his mask, so it was a miracle that nobody noticed.

"Now then, I think tomorrow would be a good time to break the news, don't you?"

"Y-yes. Obviously." Gerome's frown became a warm smile. "How about we go spar for a while? I've yet to see your skills against me in combat." Morgan's faced lit up.

"Ooh, sure! Just promise me you won't hold back!" Morgan loosened her grip and sprinted full speed towards the training grounds.

"Heh." Gerome knew he would get used to this feeling one day.

" _How did Lucina put it? Oh, yes. She's certainly got energy to spare."_ He sped up his walking pace to try and catch the sprightly girl. He could tell that the upcoming days would be full of fun times and peace.

...As long as Robin and Lucina don't take his relationship with Morgan too badly.

 **A/N: Decided to give this story a better ending (I felt like it needed one, and a guest reviewer pointed it out too) and I also fixed a few other things: I accidentally posted the same chapter twice, whoops. There were also a couple of tiny spelling errors that I fixed. Lastly, I decreased the amount of years Robin is absent for in this story from three to two, as I felt like three was too many (and two gives me more to work with). I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it!**


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